Amazon glitch sparks sales bonanza for 1p items
Customers cheered after a software glitch meant thousands of items from online retailer Amazon's website were on offer for as little as 1p.
The glitch, which happened between 7pm and 8pm on Friday, led to hundreds of toys, clothes and home furnishings being sold off at bargain prices.
But small businesses have scolded the glitch which resulted in them losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year.
One of the retailers affected, Judith Blackford of Kiddymania told Sky News:
I started using Repricer Express – a repricing tool as did a lot of other businesses a few month ago.
Last night through an error in their programme they listed my stock on Amazon at 1p per item including delivery.
I have lost about £20,000 overnight. Having asked Amazon to cancel the orders they are still sending them out and charging me horrendous fees.
Surely someone has to be accountable for this. I will be bankrupt at this rate by the end of January.
Another business, Discount Discs, also told Sky News that they knew of other sellers who had lost as much as £100,000 of stock.
The software, supplied to Amazon sellers by third party RepricerExpress, automatically adjusts the price of an item so that it's in line with what else is available on the online market. Businesses use it to ensure their goods are advertised at competitive prices.
The company has apologised profusely for the error. RepricerExpress said in a statement on its website:
We have received communication that Amazon will not penalise sellers for this error. We are continuing to work to identify how this problem occurred and to put measures in place to ensure that it does not happen again.
Everyone here is devastated and disappointed that you have experienced this problem.
We understand that you are angry and upset and we will endeavour to work to make good on this issue.
Amazon has said it managed to cancel the majority of orders on the mis-priced items and sellers will not be charged for these. They are now looking into the orders that were processed and will be contacting affected sellers.